


New Year's Eve

by MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne)



Series: Home [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Established Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Insecure Bucky Barnes, Mostly Fluff, Multi, New Year's Eve, Pre-Slash, touch of feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22054585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/MarvelousMenagerie
Summary: Bucky was pleasantly surprised to see that both Tony and Harley had come to the New Year’s Eve party that Natasha had hosted for the neighborhood.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Home [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1568479
Comments: 29
Kudos: 255
Collections: Tony Stark Flash Bingo





	New Year's Eve

**Author's Note:**

> For Tony Stark December Flash Bingo square 008 - New Year (it's a New Year's Eve party so it totally counts!)
> 
> Also takes part in the Home series, but all you need to know is that recently divorced, single parent (of Harley) Tony has moved in next door to Steve & Bucky.

Bucky gripped his bottle of beer tighter. Natasha was weaving her way through the crowd toward him, and Bucky didn’t like the gleam in her eyes. 

“So,” she said as she sidled up to him. She paused to take a sip of her champagne, letting the anticipation pluck at Bucky’s nerves. “I just met the new neighbor.”

Bucky’s gaze went to Tony who was chatting with Steve and Bruce. Tony was in the middle of recounting some story, waving his hands around in a dramatic gesture that nearly spilled his drink over the edge of his cup. Steve had a hand over his mouth, muffling his laughter, and Bruce had the largest smile on his face that Bucky ever seen since Bucky had met Bruce. 

Bucky was pleasantly surprised to see that both Tony and Harley had come to the New Year’s Eve party that Natasha had hosted for the neighborhood. Bucky hadn’t missed the quick downturn of lips Tony had had when Steve had passed along the invitation before the holidays. Still, Tony and Harley had arrived carrying chips and a twelve pack of pop and Bucky hadn’t seen Tony’s smile falter yet - and Bucky had to admit, he’d been watching. 

“Yeah, Tony,” Bucky replied non committedly. Bucky took a gulp of his beer. 

Natasha eyed him.

“Did you meet Harley too?” Bucky asked, unable to hold his silence against that look. “Tony’s son.”

“No, not yet,” Natasha said. She did a visual sweep of the room. “Probably with the rest of the kids upstairs.”

“Playing video games with Clint?”

“Of course. I included Clint with the rest of the kids.”

“Of course,” Bucky echoed with a grin. 

Bucky had thought he’d seen Peter around earlier with a few other kids. Peter’s aunt, May Parker, was chatting with Sam in the kitchen at least. 

“Tony seems very…”

Natasha wasn’t one to get deflected, especially not with something as juicy as new neighbors who were brave enough to venture into her domain. She was going to say what she was going to say, and she was going to say it to Bucky. Natasha loved to gossip and loved to scheme, and Bucky dreaded how she was going to end that sentence. 

If she would ever get around to declaring her assessment. Bucky took another sip of his drink. 

“...Steve’s type,” she concluded.

Bucky snorted, almost snorting his beer out of his nose. He started coughing, and turned away as he was aware that he was drawing the attention from the rest of the room. 

“Breathe, Bucky,” Natasha said, tone too smug. She handed him a glass of water though so Bucky let it slide. 

He got himself back under control, glaring at Natasha as he took small swallows of water.

“That was your fault.”

Natasha looked pleased. “I’m aware.”

Bucky shook his head. He opened his mouth to defend himself. It wasn’t that he was surprised by her conclusion as much as that she  _ said _ it. Of course Tony was Steve’s type. Those warm brown eyes, easy smile, and whiff of difficult life events was a magical formula to catching Steve’s interest. 

And that ass. Bucky couldn’t forget Tony’s ass. 

Steve wanted to know more about Tony, more about Harley, more about their new neighbors and who were they were. The business of the holidays kept them from doing little from waving at each other when getting the mail or shoveling snow, but Bucky knew that Steve wanted to change that as soon as things died down. 

Steve had even been tailing Tony most of the night. Not stalking or hovering, just Steve keeping himself in Tony’s orbit. 

“What I want to know, is if he’s yours too,” Natasha said. 

Bucky bit his lip. It wasn’t a secret that he and Steve were poly, especially not from Natasha. He and Natasha had actually dated for awhile back before they’d decided to just remain friends, all while Bucky had been with Steve. Steve being interested in Tony didn’t bother Bucky at all, other than Bucky wanted to be sure that Steve knew what he was getting into with a recently divorced single parent of a high schooler. 

Bucky shrugged. “Don’t know him that well.”

Steve had always been one to dive-in head first, even with relationships, at least once Steve had gotten some experience with them. Bucky was the opposite. Bucky could flirt like crazy, but it took him time to open up to someone, to let anyone else know him.

“I think he is,” Natasha stated. 

Bucky rolled his eyes. “One conversation and you know?”

“I took one look at his ass and I knew.”

Bucky was offended, a little, but bit his tongue from a defense. Natasha knew him too well to let him win that one. 

“Ha ha,” Bucky said flatly. “Not like it matters.” 

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t it -”

“What are you two scheming over here?” Clint wrapped an arm around Natasha’s shoulders and used her to stop his rapid pace and swing himself in between them. “Also, please tell me Sam didn’t eat all the Doritos or I’ll be pissed,” he shouted towards the kitchen. 

“You snooze you lose!” Sam yelled back. 

“Damn it,” Clint muttered. “Now, what are you fine upstanding citizens like yourselves planning on the brink of the new year?”

“Murder,” Bucky supplied. 

“Oooh, whose?” Clint asked, perking up. 

Bucky and Natasha traded a glance. “Yours,” they answered together.

Clint adopted a wounded expression. “I hate you both. I feel so unloved!” He kissed Natasha’s cheek and then scampered off to the kitchen. 

Bucky caught the fond glance that Natasha was sending after Clint. He raised an eyebrow and smirked, in what he thought was a fair turn of the tables. 

“What?” Natasha hissed at Bucky. She downed the rest of her champagne and then also strode for the kitchen. 

Bucky smiled. Everyone knew Clint and Natasha lived together, but no one quite knew the definition of their relationship. Clint only spat out nonsensical answers when asked, and Natasha refused to give anyone the opening to even ask. 

Bucky found an open space on the table and set his drink down. He then headed down the hall, away from the party where he knew Natasha’s - because even though Clint lived here the house was definitely Natasha’s - bathroom was located. 

He rounded the corner and almost ran into Tony. Bucky stumbled back, hand outstretched in case he set Tony off-kilter, but they both stayed on their feet.

“Sorry, sorry,” Tony spit out as he backed away, almost squishing himself against the wall. “Was just looking for a bathroom, must’ve taken a wrong turn.”

Tony was speaking fast, so fast Bucky had to take an extra moment to process what Tony was actually saying. 

“Oh, no, it’s actually…” Bucky trailed off as he realized that Tony’s eyes were too bright, Tony’s hands clenched into fists. 

Tony crossed his arms, then dropped them immediately. His hands opened, flexing at his sides. “Directions! Directions would be great.” Tony smiles at Bucky, the tension drained from Tony’s body.

Bucky blinked, feeling like he’d just gotten whiplashed. 

“Um.”

“I can go ask Natasha herself if you don’t remember,” Tony teased. “I guess something I should’ve done from the start. I figured I’d be able to figure it out, there’s only so many rooms you know, but as it turns out -”

Bucky’s concern grew as words continued to spill out of Tony’s mouth. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Tony said, voice clipped. “Got turned around is all. The bathroom is -?”

Bucky pointed to a door behind Tony. 

Tony grimaced. “Thank you.”

Tony whirled around and strode into the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind him. 

Bucky leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. 

He’d just seen Tony entertaining Bruce and Steve with a story in the living room, hadn’t he? Had something happened in those few moments that Bucky had looked away - because Bucky couldn’t help it, he’d been watching - that had Tony needing to sneak away? 

He also felt like a creeper waiting outside the bathroom like this, but he did have to pee. There was a second bathroom upstairs, but he would have to walk through Natasha’s bedroom to get to it and she would probably kill him if he did that. 

Bucky pulled out his phone and wasted time scrolling the news and checking social media. His sister had sent him a message wishing him a happy new year, and Bucky texted out a reply. 

The bathroom door clicked open. 

“Really?” Tony huffed as he stepped back outside. His eyes didn’t have that bright sheen of impending tears, and his shoulders were relaxed. “That’s kind of you, I guess, -”

“I was just -” Bucky tried to quickly explain, pointing to the bathroom. He wasn’t so nosy as to wait outside the bathroom for Tony to come out, Tony didn’t owe him an explanation, he needed Tony to know - 

Tony talked over Bucky’s defense. “It was the first holiday apart, with Christmas. Well, not really, we weren’t always together on the day because there was usually stuff happening. We weren’t - aren’t - the type of family with traditions or ceremonies or whatever. It shouldn’t have mattered, now that we were officially divorced, but it did for some reason. We met for the first time at a New Year’s Eve party, actually.” Tony gave a weak laugh. “So, I just needed a minute, is all.”

Bucky swallowed his words about only waiting around to use the bathroom. He licked his lips. 

He didn’t know what to say, and there was panic building in his chest because Tony had just handed out some very personal, heavy information and Bucky didn’t know what to do with it. When it came to these deep, emotional moments Bucky always relied on Steve. Steve was the one who knew what to say in a crisis. 

“Do you want me to go get Harley?” Bucky tossed out, the idea popping into his brain. 

Tony snorted. “No, no do not get Harley. Let’s not tell him about this at all, actually. I’m fine, everything is fine.”

Bucky bit his lip, not believing Tony’s claims. “If you want to head back, get some peace and quiet, Steve and I can make sure that Harley gets home okay?”

Tony smiled. It wasn’t the bright grin that he’d had on earlier in the night, but it also didn’t have the brittle edges of something plastered on. This smile felt real, Bucky thought, and Bucky liked it. 

“Thanks, really, but I’ll be fine. It’s better for the distraction, to be honest.” 

“Okay,” Bucky said, still not sure that he was handling this properly. 

Tony reached out and squeezed Bucky’s arm. “Thanks. It still kind of blows my mind how everyone is so nice here.”

“You expected passive-aggressive neighbors who would gently remind you your lawn needs mowing, didn’t you?” Bucky teased, relaxing now as he was back on familiar ground. 

“Rumor has it that no one can beat Natasha’s anyway, so at least no one seems to fight about that. Anything I need to be worried about?”

“We’re a good group, I promise,” Bucky assured. 

“So you and Steve keep saying,” Tony replied with a smile that reached his eyes. 

Bucky felt his chest warm. He liked this smile too. And he liked Tony. Bucky decided that, if things ended up playing that direction, Bucky would be happy to play Steve’s wingman. Tony might be looking for a reminder that even divorced and with a teenager, Tony was attractive - and Steve was definitely  _ attracted _ . 

But tonight was too fast, even if Tony wasn’t thinking about when he first met his ex-wife at a New Year’s Eve party. 

Bucky’s gaze flicked to the bathroom. 

“I think I’m gonna just pop in and -” Bucky started, thumbing toward the bathroom. 

“Oh, oh, yeah, of course. I should get back to -” Tony said, gesturing toward the party. 

“Sounds good,” Bucky said with a grin. “See you soon.”

Tony gave a short laugh. “Yeah. Yeah.” Tony stepped aside and started back to the party. 

Bucky headed into the bathroom. 

“Wait!” Tony yelped. 

Bucky popped his head back out, confused. 

“It was an amicable split,” Tony said, hands out as if to calm Bucky. 

Now Bucky was very confused. He wasn’t upset about anything. 

“It was for the best. Everything is fine. I’m fine. We’re still on good terms. It’s just -” Tony faltered.

“The holidays,” Bucky filled in. “It gets like that. It’s just all the, I don’t know, hullabaloo around this time of year. It’s fine. Normal, I would guess. I miss my parents a lot this time of year. It’s not the same thing, I know, but -”

“Something like that, though,” Tony said, his body again relaxing. “Yeah, yeah, just the holiday thing. Thanks. I just didn’t want you thinking that I was at home every day crying over my divorce or something like that, is all.”

Bucky grinned. “Why, you don’t want Steve coming over with hot chocolate to cheer you up?”

Tony laughed, and Bucky thought he was doing a very nice job laying some groundwork. Steve should definitely thank him later. 

“I take it back. I’m a sad depressed old man, please feed me.”

“I’ll let him know.” Bucky winked. 

Tony waved Bucky away. “Okay, okay, I’m back to the party and you’ve got business to take care of. I’ll see you out there.”

Bucky laughed to himself as he shut himself in the bathroom. Yeah, he liked Tony just fine. 

**Author's Note:**

> Quick note : final poly configuring isn't going to be V-shaped, like Bucky assumes. It'll be a triangle, just in case that is (or isn't) your thing.


End file.
